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Topic: Thrift Score! (Read 120228 times)

In the nicest residential area of my old town, there was one "GW by Goodwill" store with all the nicest stuff. It was next to a sorting center, and whatever they didn't deem fancy enough to go to that location was sent out to the others.

There was also a "Blue Hanger" store where everything was even cheaper. It was a clearance warehouse full of the castoffs from the other stores at the end of the month.

Malachite bracelet (round beads) with a raw (uncut) diamond in a cage on it at the local Goodwill for $5. If it is too small for my wrist, I have a geologist relative who is going to get it for their birthday...I love malachite. She collects rocks & so does her husband (not a geologist - but knows a lot about rocks due to working for an oil company). Original price? But the box mentioned a $20 donation to an African cause when the bracelet sold (I assume only at full price).

Nothing similar on eBay or Amazon..so still no idea what it might have been selling for at retail.

I found a great long coat in a charity shop recently... I'd seen it in the window after hours, but when I went to check it out, the woman said that about 8 women had tried it on and found it far too small. I tried it on, and it perfectly fit my slightly odd shape like it had been tailored to me.

The coat cost me about £60, but when I got home I Googled the label. Turns out coats of that brand go for between £800 and £1000...

a pair of black Converse STILL IN THEIR BOX WITH STICKERS ON THE INSOLES in my size for $4.50 (they still had the $89.95 stickers on the soles of them!)

And a plastic bag full of Duplo blocks for Baby Drifter that was $1.50. I've put them through the dishwasher on the highest temperature after soaking them in antiseptic but they didn't have any stains on them - it's mostly because she's not quite a year old and will try to chew on them all so I want them clean.

a pair of black Converse STILL IN THEIR BOX WITH STICKERS ON THE INSOLES in my size for $4.50 (they still had the $89.95 stickers on the soles of them!)

And a plastic bag full of Duplo blocks for Baby Drifter that was $1.50. I've put them through the dishwasher on the highest temperature after soaking them in antiseptic but they didn't have any stains on them - it's mostly because she's not quite a year old and will try to chew on them all so I want them clean.

a pair of black Converse STILL IN THEIR BOX WITH STICKERS ON THE INSOLES in my size for $4.50 (they still had the $89.95 stickers on the soles of them!)

Jealous! Our Goodwill would slap $60 on a very used pair and put them in the "special" case, where they would sit for months, when they could put a decent price on them and get them out the door. And they wonder why they have a hard time moving things lately... (dropped off donations last week - they have big boxes on pallets, with everything exposed to the elements, and I saw obviously fragile things like lamps under heavy books. Whoever they have running the place now puts ridiculous prices on things, so nothing gets sold. Totally defeats the purpose. I almost told them I changed my mind about donating, but I didn't want to haul the boxes back home.)

I got my Converse last summer, and spent about $40, new, in Target. Still going strong, despite near daily wear (I did have to superglue the edge on the outside of the right one, but they are my favorite shoes ever!). You'll love them once they are broken in!

two thirty-one totes, one small for $1, one med for twice that.School yard sale, dumped on a random table of hats and bags and scarves. Also got some cute hats and a scarf, and two giant rubbertmaid type recycle containers with hinged lids that stack on each other and the lids can stay up, 10 bucks for the hats, totes, containers, and scarves. Yeah!

New adidas lightweight jacket for dh--$52 new tupperware cereal containers--$2 eachGreat condition capris for me--$490 sq ft roll of wrapping paper--50 centsNew top for me--$2 (halfprice as it was the color of the day!)

I saw a blog where the lady showed off booties that she had made from purses. So, today I bought 3 purses with the idea that I will eventually make some baby booties... eventually. Prices: $2, $3 and $6. The $6 one is turquoise and huge! I pray that this will be a craft that I make and it works!

I was looking for a summer purse that wasn't black or straw...and a new computer desk for a corner with a smaller footprint.

I'm still looking for the desk...

But I found a leather purse for $19 at the Salvation Army, realized that it was unlined, and started to walk away, even though it was a good size...went back & checked the maker then slung it over one shoulder while I walked around looking at the small selection of desks (no corner computer desks).

"Coach" was stamped into the hanging leather zippered pocket. I didn't wait until the next "senior day" or half priced sale day - I just bought it.

It's the second Coach purse that I've found - but DD (Ambrosia Hino) has the other one, which is about a third the size...this one, I aim to keep. For twenty or thirty years, if both of us last that long (purse, not daughter)!

I also found a pair of jeans on their $1 rack - if anyone wants to make denim quilts - check your local thrift shop for CHEAP jeans or denim skirts in worn condition. Cutting out the "good" parts and sewing them back together as a one layer quilt or coverlet will be give you a much more varied selection of denim colors than using only your own yeans! This makes them more "artistically interesting" even if there aren't memories of when you went hiking in that pair, to Disney in this pair, and that patch came from the pair your ten year old ripped out the first time they wore them to school (caught on the slide during recess).

I bought the dress I wore to my daughter's wedding at the local resale shop. $15 It was full length, spaghetti strap, seafoam green (I am a redhead). I took it home, cut the skirt to tea-length and made a wrap from the cut-off part.

A few years ago I found a full length mink in a vintage clothing store. It looked as if it had never been worn. The lining was pristine. The coat was made by the top furrier in the southern midwest.This coat fits as if it were custom made for me. $50

Last summer I tripped over a fox stole in a "collectibles" store. Another find in pristine condition. Buying a fur in July? I got it for $20.

I especially love the resale shops in south Florida. They advertise which designer brands they accept. I don't care whether something is "from last season"....I am a size 2, most of the things I buy are discounted because the market for my size is small. Several years ago I bought a Tahari skirt for $5 with a matching light-weight sweater for $2.

My daughter also loves resale and thrift stores. She recently bought a nearly new leather blazer for her son to be Dr. Who at a con. She paid $1.50

One of the coolest finds I know of....my aunt went to a garage sale and spotted a shoebox filled with costume jewelry. It was toward the end of the day so she got the entire box for $0.50. She thought her granddaughters would have fun playing dress-up. That evening another aunt stopped by who just happens to work for a very well-known jeweler. The aunts decided to go through the jewelry just to see what was in the box. In the bottom was a ring which contained a red stone. Jeweler aunt suggested buyer aunt bring that ring into the shop to have it examined. The stone turned out to be a half-carat ruby. Buyer aunt returned to the house where she had purchased the jewelry. She felt they included the ring by mistake and wanted to return it. The people had already moved away.

She was at an estate sale and asked about a small pile of "broken costume" jewelry that was to be sold as a "lot" (everything in the pile). As a jeweler, she has access to equipment to melt down scrap metal or use it as findings to build her one designs on.

One chain caught her eye, thick braided metal (think the song "Brandy, you're a fine girl" - although it was from the Middle of Texas and not Spain, like in the song) with a stone in the clasp...I forget if it turned out to be fine silver or gold - we were talking and I was NOT looking at just her jewelry.

When cleaned, it proved to have a maker's mark from a now closed jewelry store in that area that had a single small diamond in the clasps of their chains....

An $800 USA appraised value from another jeweler led her to keep it to wear with one of the pendants she'd designed. And that was ONE chain from the "broken costume jewelry" pile that she is still cleaning bit by bit to see what is going to be scrap to be melted down and what is broken old Avon jewelry (silver tone or gold tone rather than really the metal it is supposed to look like).

Best buy that I've heard of since the guy who bought an Old Master at a garage sale or the family that bought an old porcelain vase that turned out to be from the Ming Dynasty and about the same appraised value as the Old Master....